50/50

I came with the wife down to Fargo for the weekend. I didn’t realize how much of a pita it is to only have one vehicle until we’ve come down here a couple of times. I have very little interest in running around with her to do all the crap she does…and I don’t like going somewhere and depending on someone else for a ride, even if it is my wife. I ended up sitting at the house for most of Friday afternoon. I knew this was coming so I grabbed some movies. One of the movies I wanted to see was a story about a kid with cancer, 50/50. I had read some about this before and figured it was going to be something I wanted to watch alone. I am quite close to the source material so I wasn’t sure how the flick would affect me emotionally.

Most of the reviews I’d read about this movie said it wasn’t all that great…after watching it I would say that most of the reviewers really are not all that connected to the subject matter. There is a very select audience that will feel an attachment to this movie and the story it tells…but being one of those few I will say that it was quite an emotional tug. The story went quite quickly and it was interesting to see how they acted out the part of the kid that was dying. I would have liked to see a little longer film, but I doubt most people would have cared for much more story.

There were emotional ups and downs through the flick, but one that I found particularly powerful was at the end when he was going in for surgery. No one was sure if he would wake up or not..and build up to that point was everything you would expect. Then they came to wheel him away and it was like everyone kicked it up a notch…suddenly instead of being a 27 year old guy that was uncertain and/or angry about possible death…he became a child reaching out for someone to tell him he would be O.K.

In any case, if you have gone through the cancer process this movie is probably worth a watch. If you have never really been close to someone fighting that battle…I doubt it would mean a whole lot.